Shanghai to Be the Next Silicone Valley?

By Carson Ramsdell, published on eChinacities

According to a KPMG survey released on March 6th, China is poised to become the world leader in disruptive technology breakthroughs (technologies which create new markets and value networks)--Shanghai leading the way. 25 percent of respondents ranked China as the country with “the most promise for disruptive technology breakthroughs”, up two percentage points from last year. The U.S. took 26 percent of the votes, but is down one point from the year previous.

Ma Yun made the list of “innovation visionaries” ranking a respectable third place by his peers just after Elon Musk (1st) and Tim Cook (2nd). Ma’s ranking is up four percentage points from the previous year, mirroring the China’s rise on the list of global disruptive tech centers.

Citizens of both China and the U.S. scored their respective homelands’ potential for innovation extraordinarily high. In response to the question, “Which country shows the most promise for disruptive technology breakthroughs that will have a global impact?”, 49 percent of United States citizens indicated the United States, where as 59 percent of Chinese citizens chose China. Only 9 percent of Chinese respondents chose the U.S.

Hello Shanghai

Just where is all this innovation going to happen? Apparently Shanghai. 26 percent of respondents chose Shanghai as a key “innovation hub”. New York came in second place after Shanghai, followed by Tokyo and Beijing. Shanghai is already an economic powerhouse of a city both globally and of course, within China. The ‘head of the dragon’ is also home to quite a few technology parks and companies like Youku and Sina.

At the same time, not one Chinese company made it on the list of companies leading innovation in the tech sector. 20 percent of respondents ranked Google as the king here, followed by Apple, Microsoft, IBM and Amazon and Tesla Motors who are tied for 5th place.

Opinion and Reality

The survey conducted annually over the last five years, collects from over 800 leaders in the global tech industry ranging from start-up leaders to FORTUNE 500 executives, so they aren’t skimping on qualifications. According to KMPG’s conclusions, “as markets transform with emerging technologies, talent, and capital, there is a shift from the West to the East. Most noticeably, China is rising, in position to get ahead.”

Whether technological breakthroughs in the coming year will pan out the way the KPMG survey posits remains to be seen. However, one thing is for sure, there is an optimism in China towards the potential of their national market for technological breakthrough and upward mobility.

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